New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) India Saturday made history by choosing a woman as head of state for the first time as ruling coalition candidate Pratibha Patil won the presidential election as expected by a comfortable margin.

Immediately after the results were announced, she was congratulated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and declared that her win was "victory of principles" and a "victory of right thinking".

Patil, 72, will be the 13th president of the country and will enter the 340-room Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Edwin Lutyens-designed red sandstone presidential mansion, on July 25.

Patil succeeds the highly popular technocrat president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who, by his easy mixing ways, became a darling of the middle class and student community and succeeded in making the somewhat forbidding and inaccessible presidential palace into what he called a "people's bhavan".

Patil, a lifelong Congress worker whose last job was that of governor of Rajasthan state, won by 306,810 votes against her rival Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who contested the July 19 presidential election as an independent candidate backed by the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Immediately after Returning Officer P.D.T. Achary announced her victory, Congress party workers, who were in a jubilant mood since morning, broke out in open celebrations - bursting firecrackers, beating drums and distributing sweets outside her temporary residence in the capital.

A visibly elated Patil, clad in red-bordered yellow silk sari with her head covered in traditional style, came out flanked by Congress leaders and said: "It is a victory of principles that the people of this country have upheld."

While Gandhi thanked all her UPA constituents, the Left and especially Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for supporting Patil, Manmohan Singh said it was a "vote against the politics of divisiveness and in favour of unity and the strong foundation of our secular credentials."

Gandhi, who first spoke in Hindi and then in English, also said: "It is a special moment for us women - as also for men - that a woman has become the president first time after independence."

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee also congratulated her, while Shekhawat, who fared badly in the election, stepped down from the post of vice president saying that he accepted the defeat with "humility".

Patil, former Rajasthan governor, got 325,180 votes from the state legislators and 442 of the total 682 MPs who cast their votes, paving her way to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the president.

An MP's vote value is 706 and an MLA's varies from state to state according to its population.

Patil, who had been haunted by unsubstantiated opposition charges of corruption, fraud and improprieties, has won almost 11,000 more votes than expected. Thursday's poll had been preceded by the most acerbic campaign, which many political analysts said had dented the prestige of the country's highest office.

Shekhawat got 331,306 votes. But he was out on a duck in four states - Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.

Patil's native Jalgaon village in Maharashtra and her husband Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat's native place in Rajasthan's Sikar have been in celebration mood since morning as her victory was a foregone conclusion against her 84-year-old rival, Shekhawat, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran.

Pratibha Patil, elected Saturday as the first woman president of India, said hers was a "victory of principles the people in the country have upheld."

"It is the victory of principles the people of this country have upheld," Patil told reporters in English immediately after she was declared as the winner in the July 19 presidential election.

Patil, clad in red-bordered yellow silk saree with her head covered in traditional style, thanked the people of the country.

"I thank every one. I am grateful to men and women of the country," she said. She was accompanied by senior Congress party leaders Motilal Vora, Janardhan Dwivedi and Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the information and broadcasting minister.

She earlier said in Hindi that her victory was a "victory of right thinking".

Congratulatory messages poured in even as Congress leaders arrived with bouquets and jubilant party supporters dancing on the street in front of her 11, South Avenue residence here.

There was jubilant beating of drums and dancing at Choti Losal village here Saturday as hundreds of people celebrated the victory of daughter-in-law Pratibha Patil in the presidential election.

As news about Pratibha Devisingh Patil's victory spread, hundreds of people began converging on the village, the hometown of her in-laws.

All roads in the village, over 150 km from Jaipur, led to the chaupal or the main village centre where men and women gathered to dance to music played by a DJ, brought in specially for the occasion.

"I do not have words to describe how we are feeling. I am very happy that Pratibha has brought name and fame to this village. We plan to dance all through the night," Suresh Singh, a local resident, said.

The celebrations had in fact started much before the result was declared for the July 19 poll as her victory was a foregone conclusion.

Since morning, villagers were in an elated mood, animatedly discussing the poll and offering prayers. They threw gulal colours on each other, just as they would do on Holi, danced to the beat of victory drums and burst firecrackers.

Pratibha was married on July 7, 1965, to Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat, who belongs to Choti Losal. Devisingh's family had migrated to Amravati in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, more than a century ago.

"We have been praying for her win ever since her candidature was declared," said Savitri, a local resident.

The women sang folk songs sung for celebrations and also danced to a special Rajasthani song - 'Dadi Baniya Rashtrapati' (grand mother became president), coined specially for the occasion. "She is our bahu (daughter-in-law). She has done us proud," a villager, Kiran Kanwar, said.

Excited children were seen praying for 'grand ma' while the elderly were saying that their daughter-in-law had earned respect for the village.

"She has brought fame to this village. We have a population of around 3,500-4,000 and all are very happy for her," Sugam Singh, a 70-year-old villager, said.

"The entire village will be lit up by earthen lamps (diya) in the evening," Prem Kanwar, the village head, said. "We will now formally invite her to the village and give her a traditional welcome after she is sworn in," he said.

Her ancestral home in the village has been decked up. Villagers hope that she will bring lot of development to the area. "She will certainly give a face-lift to this village after she becomes president," Ramesh, a college-going student, said.

For one who looks every inch a traditional and conservative Indian woman, the noticeably reticent Pratibha Patil has sparked a political tsunami even before stepping into the Rashtrapati Bhavan as India's 13th president and its first woman in the post.

After four decades of a relatively uncontroversial public life, the long-time Congress loyalist will occupy the grand 340-room presidential palace on Raisina Hill following an unusually bitter home stretch.

And if the vitriolic attacks on her and her family are anything to go by, the 72-year-old woman who likes to keep her head covered with her sari and wears a large bindi that married Indian women sports, has broken six decades of male monopoly over presidency.

However, her actions and words are sure to be constantly compared, at least in the first few months, to those of her hugely popular predecessor and easy-mixing predecessor, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

All this is surprising considering the fact that the Congress party veteran and a loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family was a non-controversial figure even though she has had a long innings in politics and holds an enviable record as a community worker-cum-politician from Maharashtra.

The announcement that the low profile Patil was to be catapulted from Rajasthan governor to becoming the presidential candidate of India's ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) first led to bemused reactions even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi called it an important milestone for women in the world's largest democracy.

That quickly gave way to some dismay, mostly on account of a politician succeeding a scientist-president, and an ugly war of words unprecedented in the history of Indian presidential elections.

While the mass of India watched the unfolding drama that she was anyway going to win, because the numbers were stacked in her favour, Patil did not help matters by keeping largely quiet on the allegations of financial impropriety, corruption and other irregularities.

Her alleged comments about her conversation with her dead guru, her reported - later denied - assessment of Islam's connections to the female veil and the Left's initial reluctance to back her marred the campaign.

In the process, her remarkable rise from a humble home in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, all the way to the presidential palace, her unconventional young days when she became a table tennis champion winning inter-college tournaments and her academic and long political career as a Congress leader got pretty much overlooked.

Amid concerns that attacks on her were getting too personalised, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even launched a website denouncing her. But in the end she had the last laugh, with the BJP's oldest ally, the Shiv Sena, throwing its weight behind her on account of her Maharashtra origins.

Born in the small town of Jalgaon of Maharashtra on Dec 19, 1934, she was an athletic 13-year-old when India became independent. She studied in Jalgaon and Mumbai to earn postgraduate degrees in arts and law and practised as an advocate in Jalgaon.

Her father was a police prosecutor and she came from a relatively humble family, which did not claim any political connections. But from social work she jumped into Congress politics and was elected to the Maharashtra assembly in 1962 for the first time.

Three years later, Patil, a Rajput, married Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat, a Maratha of Rajasthani origin. From 1972 to 1978, the soft-spoken, demure looking Patil was cabinet minister in Maharashtra four times holding such portfolios as social welfare, public health, prohibition, rehabilitation and cultural affairs, and education.

When the Congress was out of power in Maharashtra in 1979, she became the opposition leader in the assembly. Patil returned as cabinet minister in 1982, heading the urban development and housing ministry, and also held charge of civil supplies and social welfare.

She was elected to the Rajya Sabha, parliament's upper house, in 1985, after nearly a quarter century of state politics.

She became deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha from 1986 for two years. She was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991 in a general election marred by the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Patil became the Rajasthan governor Nov 8, 2004 -- one year after the state went into the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

One of her most noteworthy actions as governor was her refusal to sign the controversial Rajasthan Freedom of Religion Bill that banned religious conversions.

She argued that it contained provisions that directly or indirectly affected fundamental rights related to religious freedom.

Her husband Devisingh's family had migrated to Amravati in Vidarbha region more than a century ago. They have a son and a daughter.

She set up hostels for working women in New Delhi and Mumbai, an engineering college for rural youths in Jalgaon, a sugar factory also in Jalgaon and also a cooperative bank for women in Jalgaon.

Four decades and more after she stepped into politics, Patil has become custodian of India's highest office, capping a career that was mostly low profile except for the volatile home stretch of course.

Pratibha Patil and 11 predecessors at Rashtrapati Bhavan

Pratibha Patil will be inaugurated president Wednesday and hold the 13th term at the high office in India's 60-year post-independent history. Rajendra Prasad held the first two terms at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Field reports suggest that the anticipated benefits of employment guarantee are beginning to show in the pioneer districts.

THE National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has been a subject of lively debate in the past two years or so. Unfortunately, the factual basis of this debate has been, so far, rather thin. This has made it possible for extremist positions to flourish without being put to the test of careful evidence. While the Act is regularly pilloried in the corporate-sponsored media as an "expensive gravy train" (as a former Chief Economic Adviser described it), the government gets away with extravagant claims of success.

Fortunately, the scope for informed analysis is rapidly growing as reports are beginning to pour in from various parts of the country. Some statistical evidence is also available, notably on the NREGA website launched by the Ministry of Rural Development ( www.nrega.nic.in) . This website is not exactly a model of clarity and elegance. Many of the links do not work, quite a few tables are blank, and essential facts that ought to be available at a glance tend to be oddly scattered through the site. More importantly, much of the site is a rather puzzling mix of valuable data and dubious statistics. It is hard to understand why a Ministry that spends more than Rs.10,000 crore a year on implementing the NREGA is unable to ensure that this crucial resource is up to the mark. Be that as it may, there is much to learn here for those who have the patience to find their way through the maze.

Table 1 presents a simple "fact sheet" on the NREGA based on official data from the Ministry's website. The data pertain to the financial year 2006-07, and should be interpreted bearing in mind that this was essentially a "learning phase" for the NREGA. The Act came into force on February 2, 2006 in 200 districts. Many districts were unable to put the required systems in place before the summer months (April to June), which tend to be the period of peak demand for employment in public works. Some of these districts had much higher levels of NREGA employment this summer, but this is not captured in Table 1 since the reference period ends on March 31, 2007. Quite likely, the levels of NREGA expenditure and employment in these 200 districts will be much higher in 2007-08 than in 2006-07 (that is, if the Finance Ministry cooperates). Nevertheless, it is useful to look at the record of the NREGA in "year zero", so to speak.

As Table 1 indicates, works under the NREGA generated 90 crore (nearly one billion) person-days of employment in 2006-07, at a cost of about Rs.9,000 crore. By any reasonable analysis, this is much below the employment and expenditure levels that would materialise if the Act were implemented in letter and spirit. For instance, based on rather conservative assumptions, the National Advisory Council estimated two years ago that fair implementation of the Act in the country's poorest 200 districts would create about 200 crore person-days of employment - more than twice the actual level of employment generation in 2006-07. Nevertheless, 90 crore person-days is a start of sorts, and certainly more - much more - than the amount of employment generated in these districts in earlier years under the National Food For Work Programme (NFFWP) and the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY).

Farm workers returning home with grain received as part of their wages, near Thrissur in Kerala. In terms of NREGA performance, Kerala is at the bottom of the table. Perhaps this is a reflection of the low demand for NREGA employment in the State rather than of a failure to provide it.

Having said this, there are startling differences in the levels of the NREGA employment in different States. The point is illustrated in Table 2, where States are ranked in descending order of employment generated per rural household (in the relevant districts). Some State governments have clearly decided to "own" the NREGA and have seized this opportunity to provide large-scale employment to the rural poor at the cost of the Central government (which foots about 90 per cent of the bill). In other States, the whole programme is yet to take off.

Looking first at the top of the scale, it is perhaps not surprising to find that Rajasthan was the best performer among all major States in 2006-07 (in terms of employment generation per rural household). Indeed, employment guarantee has been a lively political issue in Rajasthan for quite a few years now, and the State also had a high level of preparedness for the Act, having organised massive public works programmes almost every year in living memory. Note, however, that the small State of Tripura in northeastern India (not shown in the table) is doing even better than Rajasthan, with 87 days of NREGA employment per rural household in 2006-07. In both States, employment generation under NREGA is already quite close to the upper limit of "100 days per rural household". This is an unprecedented achievement in the history of social security in India.

At the other end of the scale, there are some surprises. Kerala is at the rock bottom, but perhaps this is partly a reflection of the low demand for the NREGA employment in the State, rather than of a failure to provide it. The same interpretation, however, is unlikely to apply to Maharashtra and West Bengal. The fact that the NREGA is - as of now - a flop in both States may seem surprising, but it is actually in line with recent policy priorities. Maharashtra has assiduously sabotaged its own Employment Guarantee Scheme from the early 1990s onwards. The government of West Bengal, for its part, had an ambivalent attitude towards the NREGA from the beginning.

There is another way of looking at the State ranking in Table 2. As is well known, the southern and western States (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu) routinely do better than most of the northern and eastern States when it comes to social policy and rural development programmes. The large north Indian States, for their part, tend to lag far behind. But when it comes to NREGA, the pattern is reversed: only one of the southern or western States (Karnataka) has generated more than 10 person-days of employment per rural household in 2006-07, while the eastern and northern States have done comparatively well in this respect. Of course, this pattern has to be read in the light of the fact that the need for fallback employment may be greater in the eastern and northern regions. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to find that the NREGA made an early start in these deprived regions (with the significant exceptions of Bihar and West Bengal).

Is NREGA doing better in States ruled by particular political parties? No obvious pattern emerges in this respect. Nevertheless there is a hint that, if any national political party is taking the NREGA seriously, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Indeed, among the major States, the four best performers in terms of employment generation under NREGA are Rajasthan, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, all of which, except Assam, had BJP governments in 2006-07. As it happens, Assembly elections are due relatively soon in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. One wonders whether active implementation of the NREGA in these States is part of a deliberate electoral strategy of the BJP. It would be a cruel irony if the BJP were to reap the political benefits of a programme initially championed by the Congress and the Left parties.

Empowering Women

The last three columns of Table 2 look at other features of the implementation of the NREGA in different States and enable us, in particular, to spot some important irregularities. Consider, for instance, the participation of women in the NREGA. It is encouraging to note that women's share of NREGA employment is not far from half (40 per cent to be precise) at the all-India level, rising to a startling 81 per cent in Tamil Nadu. The economic dependence of women on men in rural India plays a major role in the subjugation of women, and in this respect the NREGA is an important tool of social change. However, many States are violating the Act by failing to ensure that the share of women in NREGA employment is at least one third: Jammu and Kashmir (4 per cent only), Himachal Pradesh (12 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (17 per cent) among others. In this connection, it is also worth mentioning that the mandate to provide crèche facilities at NREGA worksites has been brazenly ignored so far almost everywhere. Better arrangements for child care are urgently required to facilitate the participation of women in the NREGA. Of course, it is not just a matter of child care. But the provision of crèche facilities at NREGA worksites would certainly help and would also have much value as a means of creating wider social acceptance of child care arrangements as a basic right of working women.

The labour component of the NREGA is supposed to account for at least 60 per cent of total expenditure. As Table 2 indicates, this requirement is comfortably met in most States, though some of them (Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh, for instance) have marginally lower ratios, and Himachal Pradesh spends only 52 per cent of NREGA funds on the labour component. It would be interesting to know how States like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu manage to implement NREGA works with virtually no expenditure other than wages. Of course, there is a strong incentive for States to adopt labour-intensive techniques under the NREGA since the labour component is entirely funded by the Central government (unlike the material component, which is shared). The share of wages at the all-India level is 66 per cent, which seems like a satisfactory figure.

The last column in Table 2 presents average wage costs per person-day. This is, for practical purposes, the same as the average wage rate (in rupees per day). Here again, there are major inter-State variations, with (say) Kerala paying more than twice as much as Rajasthan. These large differences raise the question whether it is better to have State-specific wages or a national norm. This complex matter is yet to be adequately debated. Indeed, wage payments raise a host of interesting and complex questions that have been lost in the din of arguments for and against the Act: how NREGA wages should be determined; whether there should be a national norm; whether piece-rate payments are better than daily-wage payments; how work should be measured; whether the "schedule of rates" should be gender-specific; how to avoid long delays in the payment of wages; and so on. It is not too late to initiate an informed debate on these issues.

Minimum wage

Finally, it is alarming to find that some States are evidently paying less than the statutory minimum wage, in flagrant violation of the Act. The most glaring offender in this respect is none other than Rajasthan, where NREGA workers earned a meagre Rs.51 a day on an average in 2006-07 even though the statutory minimum wage was Rs.73 a day. This is a trifle paradoxical, since workers' organisations in Rajasthan have been at the forefront of recent struggles for minimum wages. Also, it is in the context of relief works in Rajasthan that the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment stating that employing labourers without paying the minimum wage is "forced labour" insofar as it amounts to "[taking] advantage of the helpless condition of the affected persons" ( Sanjit Roy vs. State of Rajasthan 1983, SCC (1) 525). More than 20 years after this indictment, the problem persists.

As one might expect, the contrasts discussed so far are even sharper at the district level. For instance, employment generation per rural household is just about one person-day in Madhubani (Bihar) but as high as 111 days in Dungarpur district (Rajasthan). Similarly, while women's share of NREGA employment is above 80 per cent in most districts of Tamil Nadu, it is less than one per cent in five districts of Uttar Pradesh. The inter-district contrasts are illustrated in the graphic, with reference to the level of NREGA employment (measured, as before, in terms of person-days per rural household).

Behind these facts and figures is a simple yet powerful message about the NREGA. Within a year of the Act coming into force, the programme has been actively taken up in a small but significant number of districts (20 of them spent more than Rs.100 crore on NREGA in 2006-07). Further, field reports suggest that many of the anticipated benefits of employment guarantee are beginning to show in these pioneer districts: there is greater economic security, agricultural wages are rising, migration is slowing down, productive assets are being created, women have more economic independence, power equations are changing, and so on. The need of the hour is to extend these positive experiences to other districts. If Sarguja or Mandla or Banswara are able to spend more than Rs.100 crore on this programme in a single year, there is no reason why (say) Palamau or Kalahandi should not be able to do it.

Of course, it is also important to ensure that the reported expenditure levels actually correspond to "real" work and wages. Earlier employment programmes have left a long trail of fake muster rolls and embezzled money. However, there is growing evidence that firm enforcement of NREGA's extensive transparency safeguards can go a long way in preventing corruption.

Women engaged in deepening a water source in Bommiarpalayam panchayat in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu under the NREGA programme. Women's share of NREGA employment is 40 per cent at the all-India level; in Tamil Nadu it is a startling 81 per cent.

Success stories in this respect are no longer confined to Rajasthan - the stronghold of India's "right to information movement". For instance, a recent verification of muster rolls in Sarguja and Koriya districts (of Chhattisgarh) conducted by students from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, found that 95 per cent of the wages paid according to the muster rolls had actually been received by the concerned labourers. This is a significant achievement, especially in contrast with the massive levels of fraud observed in the same area two years ago under the NFFWP.

It would be naive to think that the long history of fraud in public works programmes has already come to an end. But recent experience shows that it is possible to remove mass corruption from NREGA. This calls for strict implementation of the transparency safeguards, as well as firm action whenever corruption is exposed. In these simple steps lies the future of the Act, and of all those for whom it is a new ray of hope.

Ranchi , July 24: A women was stripped and brutally beaten with hot iron rods after she was branded a witch and held responsible for the death of a woman in a Jharkhand village, police said Monday.

The incident came to light only after a week when the woman from Dadighagar in Hazaribagh district, about 130 km from here, approached some local reporters Sunday.

Basdeo Manjhi said 45-year-old Chandmuni Devi had used black magic against his wife who died of snakebite on July 14. He complained to the panchayat that ordered that Chandmuni be stripped and beaten with hot rods and sickles.

Chandmuni and her husband braved threats and filed a police complaint against six people five days later. But the police did not take any action either and the couple approached the media for help.

Witch-hunt cases are rampant in Jharkhand. More than 600 people, mostly women, have been killed in last 10 years after they were charged of practicing black magic.

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=48718

Loss of innocence

It was a devastating fury that raged through the young boy's heart. It died down almost as quickly as it rose, but it was too late. By then it had already destroyed many lives. A 14-year-old domestic help working in Mumbai was so infuriated one afternoon by the obdurate refusal of his employer to pay him his accumulated wages that he impetuously picked up an iron vessel in the kitchen and smashed it on her head repeatedly. She screamed, bleeding profusely, struggled briefly, then crumpled on to the kitchen floor, motionless.

More frightened than he had ever been in his life, the boy ran out of the flat to the nearest bus stop. It was deserted. As he crouched in a corner, weeping inconsolably, the terrifying reality began to slowly seep in. He had gravely wounded a woman of means. He was absolutely alone in a strange city, with no relatives or friends to whom he could go for shelter or advice, to suggest to him a way out of his sudden horrific predicament.

His heart heaved, as he desperately missed his parents, their thatched hut, his village in Jharkhand and even their poverty. It was a dreadful mistake. He should never have come to Mumbai in the first place, however hard life was back at home. His only chance now was to return to his village, before the police discovered his crime.

But Rahul had no money, therefore he could not board a bus. Instead, he alternately ran and walked as fast as he could, breathless and panting, his heart beating against his breast, to the train station. There were barely minutes left for the train to depart, when a police inspector identified him, and he was bundled into a jeep and driven to the police station. The petrified boy put up no resistance, and told them truthfully all that had happened. "The sethani is dead. You will have to go to jail," they told him. "You have destroyed your life. There is nothing that anyone can do for you."

He lay that night on the floor of the lock-up of the police station, in a restless, fitful, troubled sleep. The next morning, he was presented before a court. The magistrate did not ask Rahul his age, although he was clearly a minor. A month after his police remand, the magistrate ordered his transfer to Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai.

Rahul was placed in what prisoners and jailors alike termed as the 'Baba Barrack', or the 'Children's Ward' of the prison. Indian penal law, reiterated by repeated court judgments, firmly debars the incarceration in jails of children below the age of 18. The irony of barracks explicitly reserved for children despite the severe strictures of the law, escaped the latest entrant to it of the most populous jail in India's wealthiest and largest metropolis.

There were nearly 250 boys and very young men in the dormitory, ranging from the ages of 14 to some who were just over 20. There was only a frayed durrie on the floor to sleep, with no sheets to cover themselves. The inmates were given only one bottle of water every morning and evening. They were given no plates and glasses to eat and drink out of, and were forced collect the daily fare on their palms.

Four months later, Rahul was transferred to the Nashik district jail. The facilities were better, the jailors more considerate. One social worker collected names of undertrial prisoners who were clearly under-age like Rahul, and advised them to ask their families to send their school certificates. Rahul wrote home to his school teacher in his village, who sent his school certificate.

There was a doctor at the Nashik jail serving a life sentence. He liked best to gather the children in the prison each day, and teach them from a few textbooks that the jailor collected for him. The jail also had a computer room, and drawing classes. For the first time in many months, Rahul was able to push aside his despair, by immersing himself in the joy of learning. Brothers from the Don Bosco Church began formal classes, including English. Rahul decided to apply for admission in class 10 open school.

His hearings commenced eight months later. By then the doctor in the Nashik jail had coached him well, and before the proceedings in the sessions court could begin, Rahul protested to the judge that he was under-age. The judge looked at him in surprise, then asked if he could prove his age. Rahul showed him his school certificate. The judge agreed that Rahul be shifted to an observation home meant for children in conflict with the law.

In popular parlance in Mumbai, these homes are called 'chillar homes', chillar meaning 'small change'. The home housed no adult prisoners, but otherwise Rahul found it in far worse condition than the Nashik jail. Drugs, smuggled in with the food, were rampant and many of the runaways who were housed in the home were addicted to a variety of substances. The boys spent the whole day cleaning, cooking or idling, and unlike in Nashik, there were no arrangements for studies or recreation, except watching black-and-white TV programmes.

Rahul met a legal aid lawyer, Yug Chaudhari, who appeared for Rahul in the juvenile court. The lawyer argued that even though the boy had taken the life of another, he was too young under the law to be held criminally responsible for his actions. The law should not be punitive but humane and compassionate. It should measure its success not by incarcerating Rahul, but by whether Rahul grows up into a productive, law-abiding citizen. He argued that Rahul had clearly manifested a desire to improve himself via education, and that his guilty plea was a clear indication of his penitence. So the twin objectives of punishment had been achieved.

The magistrate compassionately agreed to place Rahul as an experiment for the first time with Saathi, a voluntary organisation working with streetchildren in Mumbai. His lawyer was triumphant, because it was rare for a judge to agree to set free a boy charged with murder, although this humane course was indeed open under the law.

Rahul found the atmosphere in the streetchildren shelter welcoming, even though the facilities were austere. He made friends with the other inmates. He asked for a tutor to assist him in his further studies. He spent five hours a day, making carrybags out of newspapers, earning Rs 1,350 per month. The rest of the day was devoted to studies.

Looking back on his short but turbulent life, Rahul has two major regrets: leaving his home and killing his employer. "I was too young to understand," he said. In his years in Mumbai, he "learnt good and bad ways, met good and bad people". He wants to keep studying, especially computers. But in the end, he wants to return to his village. "I will live there the rest of my life," he affirms. "I do miss my village a lot."

Dumka, July 24: Embankments gave way and rivers overflowed while floodwaters washed away a bridge, cutting off Godda from the rest of the state.

The marooned district's road links to both Jharkhand and Bihar were snapped.

The government, ironically, had assured in May this year that rivers would be desilted and embankments of the Triveni project repaired before the monsoon. The assurance had followed an indefinite fast by the first chief minister of the state.

But floods wreaked havoc in Godda, where coal mining at Lalmatia coalfield came to a grinding halt with Eastern Coalfields Ltd sources claiming a loss of Rs 2 crore. Open-cast pits of Rajmahal coalfields have become waterlogged, confirmed ECL officials.

While no loss of life was reported from Godda, cattle have drowned and houses damaged. Godda deputy commissioner told The Telegraph that the extent of loss is still being assessed.

Water level at the Massanjore dam, meanwhile, rose alarmingly, causing panic in Dumka. Sullen residents complained that the sluice gates on the Bengal side are not being opened to save land and people in the neighbouring state. But the water level now threatens to inundate large parts of Dumka and damage the paddy crop extensively, they claimed.

Local trains on the Mokama-Kiul section were cancelled and several trains diverted because of the floods. Heavy rain has been predicted over the next 48 hours,

The public works department is being blamed for the collapse of the bridge over the Kazhia on the Godda-Sundarpahari-Sahebganj road.

The pillars of the bridge were apparently meshed with steel and iron nets to protect them from floodwater and boulders. But PWD removed the nets, complained people, for allegedly carrying out repair works but the nets were never replaced.

Besides Godda town, road transport to Poraiyahat and Lalmatia too have been disrupted and people there are grappling with shortages and rising prices.

Extensive damage has been reported to standing crops of paddy from Pathargama, Poraiyahat and Mahagama.

Ranchi : It is a lesson in self-reliance. Tired of petitioning the government, residents of a Jharkhand village pooled in their resources and constructed a bamboo bridge over a river.

Villagers of Chapala in Garwah district, around 140 km from here, constructed the 80-feet-long bridge on a rain-fed river to avoid the communication problems they face during the monsoon.

"We made several requests to the legislators and members of parliament, but all we received were just assurances. We called a meeting of the panchayat on May 14 this year to discuss the issue. Then the panchayat gave the go ahead for construction of the bridge," said Satya Narayan Yadav, a villager.

Echoing him, Sadashiva Gupta, another villager, said: "We decided to collect money and arrange bamboo to construct the bridge. With the support of villagers, we collected materials and built the bridge in 48 days."

Nearly 70 people were involved in the construction.

In absence of the bridge, the villagers had to swim across the river. Even the children had to swim to school.

"There was a high risk of drowning. We were scared to send our children to school during the monsoon. A child had drowned some years ago," said Malti Devi, one of the villagers who helped in the construction of the bridge.

The villagers now hope the government will wake up to their plight and construct a concrete bridge to solve their woes permanently.

"The bamboo bridge is a temporary one and only a concrete bridge can solve the problem," said a villager.

Ranchi, July 22: Delimitation Commission chairman Kuldeep Singh has written to the Prime Minister with "two viable alternatives" to solve the "Jharkhand imbroglio".

He suggested change in the Bihar Reorganisation Act and the delimitation process be deferred by six months. He also favours a thorough examination of constitutional and statutory provisions by the experts of the ministry of law.

Highly placed sources in Delhi said Singh had a detailed discussion with the Prime Minister on June 12.

In Jharkhand the only demand was that the existing number of Scheduled Tribe seats in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha should not be reduced at any cost.

The Jharkhand issue was directly related to Article 332 of the Constitution.

"It is reiterated that the issues being complicated and involving constitutional and statutory provisions, it requires thorough examination by the legal experts of the ministry of law," said Singh in his letter to principal secretary to the Prime Minister, T.K.A. Nair, dated June 14, 2007.Through this letter, the delimitation commission chief also suggested "two viable alternatives" to Singh.

The first stresses on insertion of a new section "10A" in the Delimitation Act 2002 in the following terms: 10A — notwithstanding anything contained in Sections 4,8,9, and 10, the President of India may by Notification, for reasons to be recorded, defer the ongoing delimitation process in the states of Assam and Jharkhand for a period of not more than six months.

Singh argues that 10A, if incorporated, would enable the Union government to defer the delimitation process for some time, during which the problems could be resolved by amending the Constitution or any other statutory provision.

The second alternative suggests that in view of the provisions of Article 4 of the Constitution, it may be possible to meet the demand of the people of Jharkhand by making the following amendments in Sections 9 and 12 of the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000: "9(C) — provided the number of Scheduled Tribe seats in the House of People from the state of Jharkhand shall not be reduced, and 12 (2) (c) — provided the number of Scheduled Tribe seats in the Legislative Assembly from the state of Jharkhand shall not be reduced.

The delimitation commission chief also added that the law ministry may examine whether these amendments be incorporated in Sections 9 and 12 as suggested or in any other section/sections of the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000.

Earlier this year, top leaders of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) gathered in a secured enclave along the Jharkhand-Orissa border and drew up a list of what they planned to do over the next few months. Six months down the line, party members seem to be doing exactly that, in a manner that is chilling and is as good an indicator as any about how the Naxal cadre operates.

That occasion was the 9th Congress of Maoists. The message that went out was clear. While they continued with their existing agenda of armed struggle, mega projects–including steel and bauxite projects in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh–and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) planned in other regions had to be ''resisted'' since they were leading to ''massive displacement and marginalisation'' of the Adivasis and farmers. The result of the call: a major mobilisation exercise to increase the numbers Naxalites and establish a presence in areas where they had till now been inactive; sourcing of arms and a 48-hour economic blockade last month that paralysed life in many parts of Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

The latest intelligence inputs suggest that left extremists have managed footholds around cities and industrial hubs in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. Parts of Uttar Pradesh–particularly Sonebhadra and Mirzapur–and Uttarakhand have also reported the presence of Naxalites. And their influence in the south no longer ends at the borders of Andhra Pradesh; Karanataka and Tamil Nadu too are now waking up to the threat.

The red footprint: 185 districts in 16 states across the country.

''They are now present wherever an industrial or development project is coming up. After all, their strength lies in exploiting the sentiments of people in areas that are underdeveloped, so they want to resist all kinds of development,'' a senior police officer involved in tracking the Maoists said.

It is not as if the Centre is not aware of the new development. A meeting held in New Delhi in April saw senior officials from these states being ''sensitised'' to the threat. ''We asked them to be watchful and asked them to be prepared in view of the pattern seen in Naxal-affected states in the past,'' said Vinay Kumar, Additional Secretary (Naxal Management) in the Union Home Ministry.

Officials are also aware of the Naxal's new strategy of targeting communication, transportation, railway and other essential services. But as the 48-hour economic blockade showed, the security forces could find it hard to counter these new tactics. After all, it is almost impossible to guard every inch of power or communication lines.

Where they are not inflicting major damage, they are busy consolidating. Chhattisgarh has taken the brunt of recent attacks. The state Government feels this is a sign of success and an indication that the Naxalites are feeling the pressure. The Centre maintains that the sharp rise in incidents in the state is indeed the result of this. In Orissa, where Naxalites have had a presence for many years now, the state Government wants to raise the number of ''Naxal-affected districts'' from the nine identified in 2003 to 14. The new areas where Naxal activities are now prevalent include Deogarh, Sambalpur, Kandhamal, Jajpur and Dhenkanal, essentially regions that are either witnessing development or fall within the so-called Red Corridor that is supposed to run from ''Pashupati to Tirupati'', referring to the swathe that cuts through forests from the Nepal border to Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu.

Orissa Director General of Police A Patnaik, however, maintains that the situation is under control. ''The number of incidents have gone up this year but the instances of violence have not,'' he says, that the figures were low compared to those obtaining in neighbouring states, particularly Chhattisgarh.

In fact, the warning bells had begun sounding well before the 9th Congress. Figures put out by the Union Home Ministry tell the story.

Consider this.

The total number of security forces personnel killed in Naxalite violence in the past two years was more than those killed in Jammu and Kashmir or even the Northeast during the same period.

The number of civilians killed in Naxalite violence is far more than in insurgency-hit Jammu and Kashmir . The civilian figure in the Northeast is marginally up till March 31, 2007.

Yet, the total number of Naxalites killed by the security forces is far less than the number of terrorists or militants killed in the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir.

The Centre's response: a multi-layered mechanism. So one has an empowered group of ministers (EGOM) headed by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil; a standing committee of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states, again headed by Patil; a Coordination Centre headed by the Union Home Secretary and comprising chief secretaries and DGPs of 13 affected states; a Task Force headed by the Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Union Home Ministry; and an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) headed by Additional Secretary (Naxal Management) in the Union Home Ministry.

In real terms, the Centre has the Security Related Expenditure scheme, under which it reimburses expenses incurred by states in strengthening and modernising their police force, including improving the equipment. Over Rs 100 crore have been spent on this so far but there is concern over improper utilisation, particularly in states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The Centre has also been helping in raising India Reserve Battalions.

On the development front, there is the Backward Districts Initiative under which over Rs 1,700 crore has been spent and the Backward Regions Grant Fund programme.

The Centre maintains that it is up to the states to tackle the situation on the ground. ''Law and order is after all a state subject. We are providing all the assistance we can,'' a senior official says.But as a top official of the ministry pointed out recently, ''It's a long haul.''

Maoists bombed a government office in Bokaro district of Jharkhand, police said Wednesday.

Around 30 Maoist rebels gathered Tuesday night near the block development office in Gomia block of Bokaro district, about 140 km from Ranchi. They asked people to come out of their houses and distributed pamphlets against 'police repression'.

The Maoist guerrillas asked people to support them in their fight against the police. After addressing the people, the guerrillas blasted the block development office with grenades and bombs, said police officials.

Locals claim that the Maoists stayed near the government office for nearly two hours but no police officials arrived at the scene.

Maoists have called for a strike Wednesday in Bokaro district to protest against what they call 'police repression'. They allege that some policemen allegedly raped a tribal girl Phulmani Devi last month, after officials branded the girl and her father Maoist rebels.

Maoist rebels are active in 16 of the 22 districts of Jharkhand. Nearly 830 people, including 290 policemen, have lost their lives in Maoist related violence in the last six years.

Matrilineal Meghalaya is in for a rather taxing time ahead. Quite literally.

Around 450 offices across the state received a notice from the income tax department last week asking them to deduct taxes from employees who were born of mixed parentage — of non-tribal fathers and tribal mothers.

It said that they would no longer be entitled to the benefits of scheduled tribe (ST) status. The taxman has directed that they must also pay their taxes for the financial year 2006-07 by July 31, the last date for filing income tax returns.

"All such taxpayers, including salaried individuals, auditable firms and business persons should file their income-tax returns this year," said H Raikhan, commissioner of income tax, Shillong.

Tax department officials in the state have used the Anjan Kumar versus the Union of India judgment as the basis of their notice.

In February 2005, the Supreme Court upheld the Centre's decision to deny Anjan Kumar — whose father was a non-tribal from Gaya in Bihar and his mother, an Oraon tribal from Jharkhand — tribal status and a posting as an Indian Information Service officer.

He had cleared the civil services in the ST category.

In Meghalaya, the taxman's order has, predictably, drawn flak. Residents argued that since all the three principal tribes of state — Khasis, Garos and Jaintias — follow the matrilineal system, where the mother is the pivot of the family, the Anjan Kumar judgment was not applicable.

"The verdict is not applicable in Meghalaya. We have accordingly asked the income-tax department not to issue any notices to offspring of mixed marriages until the Supreme Court hears us," said Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council chief executive member HS Shylla.

Chief Minister DD Lapang said: "We have decided to take up the matter with the appropriate authorities."

Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority (AIADA) has been instrumental in the industrialisation of Adityapur and its surrounding areas. Mohan Lal Roy, in this interview with Frontline, speaks of the major projects that the AIADA has undertaken.

What is the scope and function of the AIADA?

First, I would like to speak of the purpose for which the AIADA was established. The State government created this body, under the Industrial Area Development Authority Act, to promote industries, acquire land for industrial projects, and develop infrastructure such as roads, water supply, electricity, and communication to facilitate industrial development in the area. So far we have acquired 3,186 acres [ 1289.32 hectares] of land and of this 2,923 acres have already been developed for industrial purposes; around 206 acres are unsuitable for development.

We have carved out 1,241 plots of land for setting up industries. A total of 791 industries have been set up in this area, including 11 large-scale industries like Usha Martin, 64 medium-scale industries, 550 small-scale industries, and 166 tiny industries. These industrial projects provide employment to about 27,000 people. The unskilled workers are from the locality as are 50 per cent of the semi-skilled and skilled employees of the industries.

We also have institutions such as the Indo Danish Tool Room and the State Polytechnic Institution, which impart mechanical training and skills to the local people. It is the young in particular who benefit from these institutions. After their training they are mostly absorbed into the industries coming up in the region. One of our objectives is to train local youth in these institutions. Mostly, those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are encouraged to join these institutions, and the AIADA provides scholarships to meritorious students.

What are the thrust areas that you have identified for the AIADA?

The market is very important for entrepreneurs, and Tata Motors and Tata Iron and Steel Company are the biggest customers of the small-scale industries in the region who manufacture and supply small parts required by these two companies. There are other small industries that manufacture fibre, plastic, bulbs, which find a market both within the State and outside. It is the promotion of these small-scale industries that we are focussing on.

What are the important ongoing industrial projects currently under the AIADA?

We have quite a few important projects coming up. One of them is a city centre. We have earmarked around 20 acres of land for this centre, which will include a mall, modern shopping complexes, a multiplex, etc. It will be the first of its kind in the State.

Though industries have grown substantially in the region, there is no corresponding growth in social infrastructure such as health care, commercial complexes, and shopping arcades. The city centre will largely address this shortcoming. The mall will come up within the industrial area facing the Tata Kandra Main Road. The next big project is the construction of a new bridge over the Kharkai river linking Jamshedpur and Adityapur. The existing bridge is very old and cannot sustain heavy traffic for too long, particularly when, with rapid industrialisation, there is much increase in the traffic of large vehicles. So we have decided to construct a new four-lane bridge over the Kharkai to ensure communication remains unimpeded.

Another important project is the setting up of the Urban Haat. It will be a marketplace of sorts for the benefit of the common people. This is part of our commitment to improve the quality of life in the villages around Adityapur. The Haat will be on a seven-acre plot of land where the village craftsmen and weavers can sell their handicrafts and handloom products directly to customers. The Haat will have facilities like restaurants, sale kiosks and exhibition space to attract tourists and people from nearby towns. It will not just be a maketplace but a leisure spot as well. An open-air amphitheatre is also proposed at the Urban Haat premises, where traditional dance and music performances will entertain visitors.

We are also setting up an SEZ for automobiles and auto components. So far, the area has only units that provide automobile parts to Tata Motors, but with the setting up of the Special Economic Zone we can promote and increase auto exports from the region. This will be set up on 90 acres of land. The Jamshedpur Utilities Services Company and Gammon Consortium have been selected as the private developers of this SEZ. Besides, we are inundated with requests from investors for land to set up industries. So, we have decided to acquire an additional 1,800 acres in nearby villages. The land will be mostly used for setting up small industries.

Are you facing any kind of opposition while acquiring land?

Actually, nothing so far. We are carefully selecting land without habitation so that nobody gets displaced. Moreover, with the handsome compensation, we do not foresee any serious reaction from the farmers' side. But then, the same cannot be said of political parties that are forever on the lookout for gains and ready to make an issue out of nothing and cause trouble.

With so many industries coming in, what are you doing about pollution control?

We have set up a district-level committee. Moreover, the regional officer of the Pollution Control Board has his office in Adityapur, which keeps a watch on the pollution levels. The AIADA itself has tied up with the Jharkhand Infrastructure Development Corporation (JINFRA) to set up an effluent treatment plant. This is still in the planning stage. We also plan to set up a system for solid waste management. JINFRA has already appointed an agency to carry out a survey for these two projects.

Apart from providing scholarships to meritorious students, what other social projects does the AIADA involve itself in?

We are organising sports activities in and around Adityapur. The AIADA has set up its own football team that is playing at the state level, we hope it will go even further. We have selected 35 youth for the football team and they are mostly workers from the industries in Adityapur.

Dhanbad, July 23: A far-reaching agreement with Australian mining company, 'BHP Billiton', will allow students from Indian School of Mines University ( ISMU) to work as interns and trainees with the multinational company.

Dean of Academic Research, R. Venugopal, claimed this to be the first "overseas" MoU signed by the school in its 80-year-long history. The Australian company, he pointed out, is globally the second largest supplier of metallurgical coal and the third largest producer of copper.

The five-year agreement would also enable the school to initiate consultancy for the Australian major. Besides academic exchanges, the school will jointly hold conferences, workshops and seminars, exchange scientists and academic course material.

The MoU, he pointed out, has opened doors to the students and academic staff of the mining school in terms of jobs, short-term research, contractual projects, design and development of equipment and products.

The agreement with the Western Australian company was signed recently between ISMU and the Indian representatives of BHP Billiton. "Earlier we had signed agreements with India based companies and organisations but not with an MNC," he said.

"BHP Billiton contacted us and told us about their Asian operations and sought our technical expertise. We put forth our conditions too in different meetings. Subsequently they agreed to recruit our students and make us a part of their future projects and finalised the agreement," said Venugopal.

The Australian company has asked ISMU to identify potential places in Bihar-Jharkhand-Orissa and Bengal for iron ore and coal mining.

ISMU and BHP Billiton have also agreed to jointly own any intellectual property right , arising from any joint project, and sharing the commercial returns from licensing operations, given with each other's consent.

BHILWARA, India (WOMENSENEWS)--At midnight, inside her home in a remote village in India, 16-year-old Chaandi Balia started rolling on the floor, thrashing about violently while making strange sounds. As the entire village gathered to watch her "playing," as it's called in the local parlance, Chaandi Balia announced that a spirit had taken over her body and told her that Khemi Balia, her old aunt, was a witch and must be burned.

Led by Chaandi Balia and her family, the villagers worked themselves into a frenzy and started gathering sticks to prepare a funeral pyre. That night, knowing that her only chance of survival was escape, Khemi Balia silently slipped out of the village. The frail 60-year-old woman traveled barefoot through the cold fields; she did not know where she was going, and was not even sure if she would live to see the morning.

Balia safely reached a village strange to her where she did not know anyone. Reluctant to place her faith in the police, she befriended a local village woman who advised her to approach Tara Ahluwalia, a social worker in the nearby town of Bhilwara who helps victims of witch-hunting. From experience, Ahluwalia knew that Balia was being persecuted because of the one-acre farmland she owned, her only source of livelihood. By labeling her as a witch, Balia's accusers effectively removed her from the village and could now possess her land.

Cases of witch-hunting occur largely in rural areas of half a dozen states, primarily in the northern and central parts of India. About 700 women were killed last year under suspicion of being a witch, according to news media reports.

"These areas face acute poverty, with little or no access to the most basic health care, education and sanitation," says Ahluwalia. "In these circumstances, superstition gains a force of its own. The problems are many--bad crop, death in the family, loss of a child, persistent illness or drying up of wells--but the solution remains the same: locate the witch responsible for the problem and punish her."

Common Ploy to Harass WomenLabeling a woman as a witch is a common ploy to grab land, settle scores or even to punish her for turning down sexual advances. Cases have also come up where a strong-willed woman is targeted because she is assertive and is seen as a threat. In a majority of the cases, it is difficult for the accused woman to reach out for help and she is forced to either abandon her home and family, commit suicide or is brutally murdered.

Most cases are not documented because it's difficult for women to travel from isolated regions to file reports, Ahluwalia says, and because the violence is largely directed toward women, the police often fail to take it seriously when they do.

"At best, they dismiss it as a social evil to be resolved within the community," she says. "In cases where the women do manage to reach the police station, the apathetic attitude of the police makes the process of lodging a complaint even more tedious."

Ahluwalia helped Balia not by going to the police station, but by leveraging the platform of a "jaati panchayat," a respected group of people from the community who hear disputes in front of the entire village and issue a decision. Social pressure ensures that the decisions are obeyed. Ahluwalia has used the system for the past 25 years to resolve disputes.

Ahluwalia gathered people from the entire village and threatened to expose the family and have them arrested. The accusers had not bargained for the intervention of a powerful outsider. Cowed down, they admitted the witch-hunt was a charade and publicly apologized to Balia. It was an exceptional case and she was able to return to her village.

Limited Legal FrameworkOnly a handful of India's 28 states, like Jharkhand and Bihar, have a law against witch-hunting.

"The biggest handicap is that in most of the states, there is no law under which the police can book those who are accused of witch-hunting," Ahluwalia said. "This is an attempt to murder. But in the absence of a law, the police register the complaint under the relatively mild Section 323. Let's say I slap you today, then I am booked under 323, and if I say you are a witch, make you eat excreta, parade you naked in public and beat you till death, then also I am booked under 323."

The maximum penalty for a 323 offense is a jail term up to one year and a fine of 1,000 rupees, about $25. In Rajasthan, the state commission for women has submitted a draft bill to the state government to stiffen penalties; the bill calls for a 10-year prison term for those who harm a woman in a witch-hunt.

"A large number of these cases take place in Rajasthan, yet the draft bill is lying with the government for over a year now and it is still not passed," said Kavita Srivastava, the national secretary of New Delhi-based People's Union for Civil Liberties, the oldest human rights organization in India. "This reflects the significance the state government has attached to the issue."

2 Percent Conviction RateLess than 2 percent of those accused of witch-hunting are actually convicted, according to a study by the Free Legal Aid Committee, a group that works with victims in the state of Jharkhand.

"Severe punishment must be given to perpetrators of such horrific violence, so that it serves as a deterrent for others," said Dr. Girija Vyas, chair of the government's National Commission for Women. "It is also equally important to publicize the existence of such a law. I mean, in states which do have a law against witch-hunting, how many women are even aware of it?"

The commission recommends training the police force to make them more receptive to handling such cases and is exploring legislation at the national level. But education and social awareness are key.

The "ojha"--or witch doctor--in many rural communities serves as a powerful local figure in the absence of medical doctors and access to basic health care services. In news media reports of witch-hunt cases, police investigations have revealed that witch doctors often accept bribes to name a woman as a witch.

"Branding a woman as a witch not only exploits her economically, but also erodes her sense of confidence and self-esteem," Vyas says. "Even if she escapes with her life, she is always burdened with the distrust and hatred of her community, and sometimes, even of her own family. This unique social problem has many dimensions and it requires a comprehensive action plan."